Goya's black paintings

A manola, doña Leocadia Zorilla

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Masterpiece

Artist Francisco de Goya
Title A manola, doña Leocadia Zorilla
Year Between 1819 and 1823
Technique Mural converted to canvas
Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

A manola, doña Leocadia Zorilla

A manola, doña Leocadia Zorilla is also known as A manola or The Leocadia. Manolo (female form manola) is a nickname for an inhabitant of the low quarters of Madrid. The woman on the painting is probably Leocadia Zorilla, Goya's live-in housekeeper, with whom he may have had a relationship. She is apparently in mourning, leaning on a funeral mound - possibly Goya's?

A manola probably formed a pair with Two friars, painted on different sides of a door. A manola is lighter in tone and considerably less gloomy than Two friars, or any of the other downstairs paintings, depicting contemplation and melancholy rather than despair.

A manola, doña Leocadia Zorilla
Goya, by Fred Licht
Buy Fred Licht's book Goya from Amazon



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